Op. 20 might perhaps reasonably be called the culmination of the Sturm und Drang string quartets. They are a famous set, and very innovative and influential (Beethoven copied them out before, and seemed to have them in mind while, writing his late quartets). In a number of ways they can be said to be looking forward more to the Romantic era (or at least Beethoven) than to the high Classical that followed them. Baroque-style counterpoint is in these quartets even more than the previous ones: three of them have fugal finales. This is also the only set of six quartets (by Haydn) with two in the minor.
As always, choose your favourite quartet, and comment on the works, recordings etc. The polls are single vote only - so if you particularly like more than one of the quartets then please say so in the thread.
Mosaiques rec. make it hard to single out, so I like 'em all. But truth be known, separating anything from herd goes against my grain. I nearly always go with the entire work. Similarly for Op. 33, and my rec. for that is Coull. :tiphat:
I thought of that one as well, but got the Medici instead. The Medici I think are very fine overall, though probably not the most energetic of recordings of these groups. I'm thinking of getting another recording of this lot soon, possibly the London one.
Well, chosen No.3 in G minor to make it contest to the F minor one. It just that I'ved listen to 'Sun' quartets for so long and that two minor key quartets are the most memorable.
I agree that these are of an incredibly high quality. I voted for the A major one because I really like the 'pastoral' (I think it's pastoral, I don't really care if it is 'considered to be' or not) quality to it, but I the 'tragic' F minor one, the fun D major one... All of them are excellent, and if I think one isn't it's usually because I haven't listened to it for a while.
Just recognised this poll. All of the Sun Quartets are great. Personally my favorites are the no. 2 and no.3. Slightly slightly I appreciate the the No.2 a bit more. But in a hurry and accidentally I voted for No.3. I feel remorse for it now.
So +1 vote for No.2, -1 vote for No.3.
Listening to the warm tones of the Festetics for these quartets right now. I love all six and would not want to choose (but it would probably be #2 if pushed to do so).
I very much like all the Op.20 quartets. But today I might select No.5 as my favorite. Next week I might have a different choice.
The recordings by the Daedalus Quartet are my current favorites.
I agree that masterpiece in the genre, but not agree that far. Op.76 string quartets are equally good. On official lists op.76 is usually even better. Telling the truth, personally I also slightly prefer Op.20. The other Haydn string quartet sets between the Op.20 and Op.76 and after op.76 are also great, not far behind. For me the difference is that Op.20 is natural, coming from soul, Op.76 is a great matured craftsmanship.
I would formulate so that Op.20 and the Op.76, Haydn’s best string quartet sets. And I feel so that the Op.20 itself is a great milestone in the history of the overall classical music.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Classical Music Forum
2.6M posts
40.5K members
Since 2004
A forum community dedicated to classical music for musicians and other enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about composers, compositions, arrangements, collections, recordings, techniques, instruments, styles, reviews, classifieds, and more!